Tag Archives: Red Queen Series

King’s Cage — Victoria Aveyard — Red Queen #3

“Now I’m in a king’s cage. But so is he. My chains are Silent Stone. His is the crown.”

Genre: Young Adult, Dystopian, Fantasy
Actual Rating: 2 stars
Content Warnings: Contains violence and is extremely boring.

“King’s Cage” is the third installment in the Red Queen series. It follows Mare Barrow as she is kept as a war prisoner by the Silver royalty, a.k.a. by her ex-fiancé, now-boy-king Maven, and brother of her ex-love-interest Cal.

I guess this one is supposed to be about Stockholm syndrome—but is it? Mare is a “prisoner” in a palace, treated like no other normal prisoner would be treated. She literally gets everything she wants, except access to her powers… the powers she didn’t even know she had not too long ago. Her wining was excruciating and repetitive. There was no character development on any fronts and honestly all “different” points of view just sounded like the same narrators, they just happened to have different names and were supposed to be different characters.

Sadly, I won’t be embarking on the last book of this series. I tried, I really did, but it’s just really not worth the time.

I will not be recommending this series to pretty much anyone. The first book was the best one in my opinion, and it wasn’t even that good.

If you click here, you’ll be redirected to Goodreads, so you can add the book to your TBR list.

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Glass Sword — Victoria Aveyard — Red Queen #2

“If I am a sword, I am a sword made of glass, and I feel myself beginning to shatter.”

Genre: Young Adult, Dystopian, Fantasy
Actual Rating: 3.5 stars
Content Warnings: This one is so so so violent.

“Glass Sword” is the second book in the Red Queen series. This series takes place in a dystopian reality where people are born either into the upper class Silver bloods or the lower class Red bloods. Silvers have super powers while Reds are just regular humans… or are they? “Glass Sword” still follows Mare Barrow, this time around as she grows stronger and sets out to find others like her—Reds with super powers—with the help of the rebels, the Scarlet Guard.

This one was action packed to an extreme. Essentially all they did was fight and have conversations in between and as they traveled to their next attack site. Did I like it? Well, I liked it better than the last one. Will I keep reading this series? I’m not sure. I came to this series with the thought that it’d have more romance involved, but it really hasn’t (even though the publisher keeps marking it down under “YA Romance”).

If you like violent fantasy books, this series is for you. I wouldn’t recommend this to people that read the Hunger Games mostly for the love triangle and not for the adventurous action side of it.

If you click here, you’ll be redirected to Goodreads, so you can add the book to your TBR list.

Or you could click here, and be redirected to Amazon, so you can order the book.

Red Queen — Victoria Aveyard — Red Queen #1

“Anyone can betray anyone.”

Genre: Young Adult, Dystopian, Romance
Actual Rating: 3 stars
Content Warnings: Discusses death, war, and discrimination. Mentions suicide.

“Red Queen” takes place in a dystopian future where everyone is defined by the color of their blood. Red versus Silvers, powerless versus powerful. Silver blood gives you superhero powers, while red blood confines you to a live of servitude… or does it? Mare Barrow is a 17-year-old red girl that discovers she actually does have a power of her own. This book follows her story, as she infiltrates the world of the Silvers and is set to be betrothed to one of the Silver princes.

The reason why I gave this book such a low rating is kind of ridiculous. I liked the story, I liked the plot twists, I liked the characters, but for some reason I wasn’t passionately invested in them. It’s like I was a witness to their story while having absolutely no sympathy for them. And for that I gave this book 3 stars. It’s a good story, but the characters feel distant at this point. I can’t wait to read the second installment in this series and see if it’s any better.

I would recommend this book to fans of dystopian novels, like The Hunger Games. But when thinking about dystopian novels, this wouldn’t be the first one I recommend.

If you click here, you’ll be redirected to Goodreads, so you can add the book to your TBR list.

Or you could click here, and be redirected to Amazon, so you can order the book.